Name: Date:
Study Questions for “Robert Frost” (I)
“Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening”
On what date does this poem take place?
T - F : The narrator of this poem would like to die.
“The Road Not Taken”
What was the difference between the path that was chosen and the one that was not?
T - F: The message of this poem is that you should think for yourself and not follow the crowd.
“Carpe Diem”
The title is a Latin phrase. How would that be translated into English?
[“Their gather-roses burden (l. 13)” refers to an earlier English poem by Robert Herrick (“To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time”) that begins
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flowers that smiles today,
Tomorrow will be dying. . .]
Frost says that life doesn’t really live in the present. In that case, where does it live?
What does he mean by that?
“The Demiurge’s Laugh”
Which word in the poem seems to be synonymous with “demiurge”?
“I was running with joy on the Demon’s trail,
Though I knew what I hunted was no true god.”
We can’t know for sure, because Frost doesn’t tell us, but what sort of activity do you suppose the narrator was involved in?
What is the Demon laughing at?
Name: Date:
Study Questions for Robert Frost (II)
“The Black Cottage”
Who are the two characters pausing outside the cottage?
Where are the occupants?
Father –
Mother –
Sons –
What exactly is “the hard mystery of Jefferson”?
What made the minister consider changing “the Creed”?
Why did he finally decide not to?
“The Mountain”
When did the mountain first come to the attention of the narrator?
What is the name of the town the narrator is staying in?
Why can’t the villager tell the narrator the best way to the top?
What unusual feature is reported to be on top of the mountain?
Name: Date:
Study Questions for Robert Frost (III)
“Home Burial”
What are the relative positions of the husband and wife throughout the poem?
1)when the poem begins
2)line 13 [Mounting until she cowered under him]
3)line 55 [Her fingers moved the latch for all reply.]
4)line 81 [You make me angry. I’ll come down to you.]
What does the husband see when he looks out the window?
To what does he compare it?
Why has he never noticed it before?
What special arrangement does the husband offer to make?
Why does he feel that would be a bad idea?
What did the husband do that the wife found incomprehensible and appalling?
1)
2)
What was “in the darkened parlor”?
Did she go out the door? Did he bring her back by force?
“A Hundred Collars”
How does Doctor Magoon feel when he goes back to his old home town (Lancaster) and sees his old friends? What does this tell us about Magoon?
Why did someone else refuse the empty bed?
What kind of a doctor is Doctor Magoon?
Where did Lafe get all that money?
Why aren’t the people on his route unhappy to see Lafe coming?